FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88  
89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   >>  
a. Fez was formerly one of the chief seats of the rug industry, which is now limited mostly to Rabat. Unfortunately, aniline dyes are now largely used, and even the designs are less artistic than in former years. There is, however, a rug not known to the trade, and only rarely met with outside its home. It is the _Tuareg_ rug, and is woven by the Berbers, a tribe occupying the desert south of Algeria and Tunis, and known as Tuareg or Tawarek by the Arabs. The Tuaregs are great traders, and control the principal caravan routes. Their rugs are woven by the women, and seldom if ever leave the families which weave them. The most beautiful are used as shrouds, and are buried with their owners. _Tunis_ sends out a few rugs woven at Kairuan. They are thick, heavy, but inferior in many ways to rugs of Oriental workmanship. BOSNIAN, SERVIAN, ROUMANIAN, AND BULGARIAN RUGS Bosnian rugs in olden times were sometimes very fine. Then came years of general depression, when the industry of weaving fell into decay. Finally the Austro-Hungarian administration was established at Bosnia, and new life was given to the work. Looms were erected by the Government, and a number of women were sent to Vienna, where they were taught the art of weaving. Returning to Bosnia, they were able to impart to others the knowledge they had gained, and thus the work prospered. To enhance further the value of these rugs, the latest designs in the old Bosnian rugs were selected, and by the harmonious blending of these with new designs and colors, modern rugs were made, which show decided improvement. _Servian_ rugs are woven throughout all Servia, but the principal seat of the industry is at Pirot, on the southern boundary of the Balkan Mountains. The rugs are of wool, and the best are very durable. The dyes are generally vegetable, the weaving is a home industry, and the designs are all worked on a black or red ground. The preferment in the modern rug is for red, but the older rugs had the black ground. The general design is an extended square, in the centre of which is a panel. The rest of the field is filled with stripes and geometrical forms in rather bright and varied coloring. _Roumanian_ rugs of modern make are quite inferior. They are woven on ordinary hand looms in the villages and towns among the mountains of Roumania. They are coarse, and the designs are in stripes, zigzag lines, or straight-lined figures. Occasionally flower designs hav
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88  
89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   >>  



Top keywords:
designs
 

industry

 

modern

 

weaving

 

stripes

 
ground
 
Tuareg
 

Bosnian

 
inferior
 

principal


general

 

Bosnia

 
decided
 

Returning

 
taught
 

Servian

 
Servia
 
Vienna
 

improvement

 

colors


gained

 

latest

 

prospered

 

enhance

 

selected

 

impart

 

blending

 

harmonious

 

knowledge

 

ordinary


villages

 
bright
 

varied

 

coloring

 

Roumanian

 
mountains
 

figures

 
Occasionally
 

flower

 
straight

Roumania
 

coarse

 
zigzag
 
generally
 

vegetable

 

worked

 
preferment
 

durable

 
boundary
 

Balkan